Statement of the Japan Fisheries Association on the new Japan-ROK Fisheries Agreement

Japan and the Republic of Korea reached a basic agreement on the new Japan-ROK Fisheries Agreement in September 1998, after consultations on establishing the exclusive economic zone system in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The new agreement was signed on November 28, 1998, and was subsequently approved by the Japanese Diet and the ROK Parliament by early January 1999, and went into force with the exchange of notes of ratification on January 22. Agreement was reached also reached on February 5, 1999, on the negotiations on the conditions of fishing operation in each other's waters. The Japan Fisheries Association sincerely welcomes the fact that the bilateral fisheries system, which lasted 34 years since the normalization of bilateral relations in 1965, has made a historic transition into a new fishery order based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The United Nations Agreement on the Management of Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Species, which took effect in 1995, dictates that the high-seas fisheries resources should be placed under the management of regional fisheries management organizations. Since then it has eventually become the common recognition of the international society and global standard that management organizations should be established for the areas and the resources for which management authorities are not existent. The exclusive economic zone system had not been introduced by any country except Russia in the East Asian area, where Japan, China and ROK operated. When the Commission on Fisheries of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) analyzed the world fisheries resources in 1993, the East Asian area was identified as the most excessively developed area. However, the structure of the fisheries resource management was left untouched as in the pre-exclusive economic zone system period, while three "big" consumers of fish harvested the resources in large quantities. In this respect, the blame that the fisheries resource management in the East Asian region was the slowest in the world is not unjustifiable , when it is seen from the resource management standard now required by the international community. There undoubtedly exists enormous amount of excessive fishing capacity in the East Asian waters. From the global standard, there is a need to cut back the excessive portion of fishing capacity combined of Japan, China and ROK to the level compatible with the actual state of fish populations. Under the new fisheries system, catch capability of fishing vessels of Japan and the ROK will be tested through the Japanese exclusive economic zone system based on the criterion of total allowable catch (TAC), and, as a result, its excessive fishing capacity, if any, must be curtailed. As the 20th century is drawing to a close, we believe that there is no other way for Japan than to assume the leading role in establishing and achieving compliance with the TAC system in order to realize equitable sharing of the fisheries resource in the East Asian waters and make it an area symbolizing good neighborliness and friendship. Japan, China and ROK have the joint responsibility vis-a-vis the international community to decide what steps we should take in building up on that foundation such a fisheries resource management system.